Friday, 19 June 2015

June 19, 2015 Chautauqua

Beth's Ponderings Ever wished you had more energy? I'm sure we all have a time or two, or every morning before we get out of bed and start our day! I read once that one of the quickest and easiest ways to boost your daily energy is to chew your food more. Yep, that's what it said…chew your food. You could also blend up your food before eating it, but you’d lose out on the incredible sensory details that make eating so enjoyable. The entire digestive process requires tremendous amount of energy. By chewing your food more, you help the process by breaking down the food before it enters the main digestive tract. By chewing your food more, you eliminate some of the stress and strain on the rest of your organs. I'm pretty sure at some point in your life you've heard the following phrases at least once: "Slow down and chew your food" or "chew your food, don't swallow it whole" or something along those lines. Rarely does our food get chewed the recommended 25 or 27 or 54 times, or whatever the latest recommended number is. As kids (and even as adults) we can have a tendency to inhale our meals. Especially if it is food we really enjoy. Yet, it can also be due to eating on the run and not actually sitting down to eat. This is something that I need to work on myself, because right now I can use all the energy-boosting I can get! So how many times do you have to chew each mouthful to see results? I have no idea. But chewing each bite one or two times more than you do now should, over the course of a meal, a day, a week, a month, a year, start making some difference. Small tiny actions do add up over time. But that’s not all that will happen. As you chew your food more, you will slow down and really be able to taste the food. As you taste the food, you’ll probably end up eating less. As you eat less you will enjoy what you do eat more. As you enjoy it more, you will relax more. And as I said last time, when you relax, you become healthier overall.